1. Field
The disclosed technology relates to a protection circuit of a battery pack and a battery pack using the same.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Rechargeable secondary batteries are used in portable electronic devices such as cellular phones, personal communications services (PCS), notebook computers, camcorders, personal digital assistants (PDA), or the like. In particular, various technologies for secondary batteries, such as nickel-cadmium, lead, nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium ion, lithium polymer, metallic lithium, air-zinc, and so on, are being developed. A battery pack includes a secondary battery and a protection circuit, which controls charging and discharging of the rechargeable secondary battery. The circuit protects the battery from over-charge or over-discharge, which are well know undesirable conditions of battery cycling.
The protection circuit of the battery pack includes protection level specifications as references for determining over-charge, over-discharge, or over-current for the purpose of protecting the battery. Accordingly, in the protection circuit of the battery pack, an over-charge reference voltage, an over-discharge reference voltage, an over-charge reference current, and an over-discharge reference current are set to fixed values at the time of circuit design. Based on the set values, a battery pack condition is determined. If a new battery is developed, a protection circuit for the battery pack having custom protection level specifications of fixed values needs to be newly designed, resulting in a misallocation of engineering resources and time loss due to circuit development.